Don’t think anyone should be worried about getting fatigued, reveals Ganguly

03/19/2019

Newly-appointed Delhi Capitals advisor Sourav Ganguly has conceded that a professional cricketer’s career lasts for barely 15-16 years and hence they don’t need to be worried about getting tired or fatigued. Ganguly believes the decision to play or not must be left in the hands of the players.

Recently appointed as the advisor of the Delhi Capitals franchise, India's former left-handed opener would be working alongside former nemesis Ricky Ponting in a bid to improve the Delhi-based team’s fortunes in the upcoming season of the IPL. Workload management amidst the congested fixtures for the Indian players has been a hot debate of late. With Australia and England pulling their players as a precautionary measure in May, the other World Cup-bound players need to effectively manage their workload during a demanding tournament like the IPL.

While India skipper Virat Kohli has also hinted on the same, Ganguly said that skipping matches was not the way to go. "Yes, there is a lot of cricket but you just play. How many cricketers get to play 15-16 years of international cricket? I don't think anyone should worry about being fatigued, being tired. Just find a way to get fresh. Because I have always said there is limited time to play this sport. Getting opportunities at the international level, at the IPL level, this will never come back, so find a way to get rest, find a way to stay fresh and keep playing.

"Not playing is not the solution, even our generation played a lot of cricket. Yes IPL was not there as it came towards the end of our career but, cricket-wise, it was the same. I keep saying that before you realise, you will see 10-12 years have just flown away. Just make the most of it and play every possible cricket match you can," Ganguly said as per PTI sources.

Apart from Kohli, Tendulkar had also echoed the same sentiment in a similar statement on Monday. According to Ganguly, the respective national cricket boards would be better off with a little bit of flexibility on player restrictions when it came to domestic competitions.

"Decision should be left to the players. It's their career, you play at the top level consistently and you can get injured. And there is no guarantee that when you play for the country you won't get injured. So there is no hard and fast rule. I believe in one thing, as a player, when you get an opportunity, play, never say I don't want to play," Ganguly concluded.